DarkStar Spouts Off

Boooo....

Vince Young.
Boooooooooooooo.

Can't take the heat?
Booooooooooooooooooo.

Gets a little heat from fans.
Boooooooooooooooooooooo.

Then gets hurt.
Booooooooooooo.....

And then his mom and friend have to contact people to say they are worried about Vince Young's frame of mind?
Boooooooooo......

Damn, son. I hope you got educated in college.
DAMN.

Quickie On Identity Politics

[ updated ]
To the people who had problems with Obama getting 90+% of the Black vote, ignoring that 90% of the Black vote goes to Democrats anyway, and blaming it on "identity politics," what say you know of the recent poll that showed white women switching to McCain BECAUSE of Palin on the ticket?

Link to PDF

White women have moved from 50-42 percent in Obama’s favor before the conventions to 53-41 percent for McCain now, a 20-point shift in the margin that’s one of the single biggest post-convention changes in voter preferences. The other, also to McCain’s advantage, is in the battleground Midwest, where he’s moved from a 19-point deficit to a 7-point edge.

Again, what was that about identity politics?

Media Okie-Doke

Mrs. D.S. tells me that Obama was on The Oprah Winfrey Show when his book came out, but before he declared as a candidate. So, if this is accurate, and I think it is, what's the big deal about not inviting Palin?

Notice, NO ONE who is criticizing her is mentioning the "equal time" rule, right?

Again, the anti-media okie-doke in full gear.

2 out of 3 for MSNBC

OK, I agree that Olberman and Matthews shouldn't be doing the political commentary outside of their shows because of their bias UNLESS there are people who are as biased on the other side. MSNBC is correct to remove them. No problem.

However, Campbell Brown got sucka punched by the McCain camp as the start of their war against the media. (And this WILL be the tactic used by all campaigns from here on out). I've listened to her interview numerous times and I see no problem with her questioning. She WAS wrong about the governor not having control of the National Guard, but I've seen/heard harder interviews done by Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday.

[ UPDATE ]

I just saw the 2nd part of O'Reilly interviewing Obama.The Bill O'Reilly interview of Obama was just as hard!

Yeah, sucka punched.

No Surprise

I don't like it, but it is what it is:

The government today unveiled a sweeping plan to take over the mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and to use government dollars to prop up the mortgage market, taking unprecedented steps to use the public purse to try to bolster the housing and financial markets.

The two companies have been placed in "conservatorship," a legal status similar to bankruptcy, and federal regulators have appointed new chief executives. The companies, which in recent months have funded more than two thirds of home mortgages, will open for business as normal tomorrow morning, government officials said.

"Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are so large and so interwoven in our financial system that a failure of either of them would cause great turmoil in our financial markets here at home and around the globe," said Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr., speaking to reporters in downtown Washington. "A failure would be harmful to economic growth and job creation. That is why we have taken these actions today."

*SIGH*

Quote of the Week

Jammie Lynn Spears. Pregnant at 17. Had baby. Engaged to the father.
Terrible. Example of family break down.

A vice-presidential candidate's daughter. Pregnant at 17. Engaged to father.
Rallied around as an example of supporting a girl in a bad situation.

This is a strange time to be a Republican. Am I just supposed to be cool with all this? Should I now recalibrate my family values to adjust for this unfortunate mess? Is teen pregnancy now just a sign of “An American Family?” Is the desire to secede from the United States now a sign of patriotism? What the hell is going on here?

Read the rest here.

That is the quote of the week.

Call For Submission: Down To The Wire

HBO's The Wire came out of left field and captured the attention of
hundreds of thousands of devoted viewers in Black communities
throughout the country. The question is, "Why?" On one level, the show
gave numerous Black actors the opportunity to showcase their talents
and to breathe life into nuanced, three-dimensional roles. "Stringer
Bell" and "Michael Lee" are two of the most compelling characters in
the history of American television. Another reason for the show's
tremendous popularity amongst Black audiences is that we love to see
ourselves excel, and The Wire gave us five seasons of stellar
performances, a mirror in which to gaze and appreciate what we saw.

Yet, as excellent as those characters and performances were, The Wire
did not always reflect back images black folks wanted to embrace.
Many of the show's best characters were drug dealers. Filmed on
location in the most blighted sections of Baltimore, Maryland, the
show's storylines tackled the maladies of urban America head-on. The
Wire's success was definitely not rooted in the feel-good, uplifting
mode of The Cosby Show. Instead, The Wire appealed to Black people
because it chose to tell the truth, warts and all, about urban life,
and it did so deliberately, but rhythmically, like an extended blues
song.

Down to The Wire will be a collection of essays exploring the cultural
significance of The Wire, particularly to Black folks and our
communities. The collection will explain why, contrary to popular
belief, The Wire is indeed the greatest TV show ever produced by HBO.

The editor welcomes submissions from emerging and established Black
writers, entertainers, cultural critics, and other observers. We seek
well-constructed critical essays and creative nonfiction which address
such topics as:

Getting Out of the Life: The vision of Stringer Bell

Gay Thugs: Omar and Snoop

The White Perspective Still Comes Through: The death of Proposition
Joe and the skewering of Black Baltimore history

Crying Foul: White Characters and the Race Card

I'm Just a Gangster, I Suppose: Avon Barksdale, Marlo Stanfield and
the New Day Co-op

Playing with the Boys: Snoop Pearson, Kima Greggs, Marla Daniels and
Nerese Campbell

Real-Life Drama: How The Wire changed the lives of individual viewers
and their contributions to the communities in which they live

The Wire as scholarship: What did the show teach us about American
society, culture, racism, classism, economics, and public policy? Can
these lessons translate into meaningful social change and exchange?

Why was The Wire so popular with black viewers, but less so with white viewers?

Does The Wire glorify drugs and violence? If so, why do we give it a pass?

Hopeful or Hopeless: Bubbles and Duquan

This is not, of course, an exhaustive list of possibilities.
Generally speaking, we are interested in original, provocative musings
and analyses which address what The Wire means to Black folks.

Take a position and defend it. Tell a well-crafted story. Make us
laugh, cry, think, shout.

Submission deadline: December 17, 2008

Length: Up to 6,000 words

We will only consider submissions of previously unpublished works and
those for which the author hold rights allowing for re-printing.

Please include your name, email address, mailing address, phone
number, and a short bio (50 words or less) with your submission.

Email is the preferred method of submission. Send essays within the
body of the email to: [email protected], with the subject heading:
Down to The Wire submission. No attachments, please.

Submissions may also be postmarked by the above date and sent via
regular U.S. mail to:

Down to The Wire
c/o Roland Laird
Posro Media LLC
PO Box 585
Trenton, NJ 08604

Unfortunately, we cannot acknowledge every submission. Authors of
those essays selected for inclusion in the anthology will be notified
via email by February 26, 2009.

About the Editor:
Roland Laird is both an author and entrepreneur. His book Still I
Rise: A Cartoon History of African Americans was named "One of the
Best Books in Print" by the New York Review of Books Readers Catalog
when it was published by W.W. Norton in 1997. He recently completed an
update of Still I Rise for a February 2009 release by Sterling
Publishing. He is also the founder of Posro Media an entertainment
company specializing in producing compelling African American images.
Roland and Posro have been the subject of numerous media stories
including in the New York Times, the Washington Post, and on NBC's
Sunday Today Show and on MTV. In 2004, the US Mission to the United
Nations recognized him as a global ambassador for his tireless
devotion to his world community and heritage.

"They've Been PIMPED!", Naw Dog, They Gave It Up Fo' Free!!!!

Look, I've written it before and I'm going to write it again: as a collective body, the Black Democrats in the state of Maryland, are ineffective, don't know how the game of politics is played, and is beholden to the white Democrat power structure in Maryland, to the deteriment of the Black citizens they claim they represent.

Yet another example of what I write about, is this:

ANNAPOLIS | Black lawmakers said Wednesday that Gov. Martin O'Malley's new regulations expanding the collection of DNA evidence violated a deal narrowly crafted earlier this year to win passage of one of the Democrat governor's hallmark proposals.

"This is exactly what we feared," said state Sen. Verna L. Jones, chairwoman of the Legislative Black Caucus, about the new regulations that allow state police to expand their collection of DNA samples.

Uhhh.... If you feared it, why did you pass the damn law?

Members of the Legislative Black Caucus, ACLU of Maryland, the Maryland NAACP and the Office of the Public Defender decried the new regulations Wednesday in an hour-long conference call with reporters.

The groups said the new regulations allow police to collect DNA samples shortly after arrest, do not guarantee expungement of the DNA records and allow police to track relatives through the samples that are collected - all of which are barred in the law passed earlier this year.

I mentioned this briefly in March where I saw some problems. I really don't understand why they are complaining about it, THEY ENACTED THE DAMN LAW!!!!!!

(DS... OK, now about that title...)

Mrs. Boersma noted that the definition of "charge" is written broadly in the regulations, including allowing citizens to file a criminal complaint, and that DNA can be collected during booking, something negotiators specifically said they did not want in the legislation

The regulations also only govern expunging DNA records from the federal database but do not dictate how the DNA material is physically destroyed or whether it can be used by local law enforcement, Mrs. Boersma said.

So, please tell me HOW THEY CAN WRITE A LAW that allows "charge" to be so loosely defined? You see, in order for this law to pass, the Black Caucus HAD to be on board because of the vote numbers involved. When this was in the news, the Black Caucus members KNEW about the relative DNA angle because it was in the news at the time. O'Malley said he wanted that option in the bill. Lo' and behold, the regulations say it's permitted.

if the law is written such that it is not permitted to use the results of DNA tests to then target relatives, then the first time this tactic is used, any lawyer worth their salt would say the tactic is illegal and get it tossed out. So, would the O'Malley administration be that ballsy?

(DS... OK, now about that title...)

Once again, the Black Democrats in Maryland show they ain't worth a damn! Black voters in their districts have to demand better, but once these people are elected, they KNOW the voters don't pay attention and all they have to do is show up someplace near election time and that's it. And white Democrats in office know that Black voters don't give the Black politicians money, so to control the Black politicians, all they have to do is contribute to campaigns.

*BAM*!!!!!

The Black politicians are paid off! And it is WELL KNOWN this is EXACTLY what O'Malley does! But he learned this from other white Democrat politicians.

(DS... OK, now about that title...)

So, this was being discussed Friday morning on the Larry Young Morning show on WOLB. Larry Young's co-host, "The Coach", kept saying Verna Jones and company were pimped. I called into the show and said they couldn't have been pimped when they knew, or should have known, what the bill THEY WERE WRITING, stated. At the time, since O'Malley was saying he wanted the ability to use DNA of relatives, and they were claiming they were pushing back on it, how can they write a bill that allows it?

I told "The Coach" they weren't pimped, they gave it up for FREE!!!!

Media On Its Heals Over Palin

OK, Palin comes out of no where and the media starts digging into her background. What's wrong with that?

Left leaning bloggers start rumors about Palin not being the mother of her son and that the 17 year old daughter is the mother. The media doesn't pick it up but the Palin's release a statement saying their daughter is now pregnant and plans to marry the father of the baby.

THEY released the statement to the media. The media picked it up and then the MEDIA was attacked for covering the story.

Damn, now THAT was a lovely twist of blame if you ask me.

Why isn't it a story that a family that is pro-abstinence only teaching, has an unwed daughter who gets pregnant? And why is it not legitimate to question the abstinence only stance or the seeming to some, "failure" of that stance?

Where did the media attack the Palin's daughter?

And why aren't the same people who are calling the media sexist NOT calling Dr. Laura sexist?

While it has been "the left" who has said that women CAN have the job AND the family, it has been "the right" who has said otherwise, who has pushed stay at home as the best option for mothers and children (it works in my case but we can live on my salary alone). It has been "the right", now, who are blaming the media and saying the media is questioning why Palin isn't staying home to be with her children.

Uhhh..... WHERE? I haven't seen it.

And women are mad about the sexist treatment by the media?

Damn, what a wonderful mind game twist of facts "the right" has going on.

Black Men For McCain

This is a strange time to be a Republican. Am I just supposed to be cool with all this? Should I now recalibrate my family values to adjust for this unfortunate mess? Is teen pregnancy now just a sign of “An American Family?” Is the desire to secede from the United States now a sign of patriotism? What the hell is going on here?

Read the rest here.

Hat Tip: Booker Rising

"He Blew My High!"

I bet you many Republicans who heard McCain's speech are wondering WTF happened.

Yep, McCain blew their high.

Leftist Sexism

Leftist sexism. Presenting Matt Welch:

So it is with the nomination of Sarah Palin, a move that was politically audacious, modestly encouraging to libertarians and those of us who enjoy unusual characters in political life...and utterly at odds with McCain's central campaign contention that he's running to defeat "the transcendent challenge of the 21st century—radical Islamic extremists."

Sarah Palin is many interesting things, but she is decidedly not anyone who has done a single thing in her life indicating preparation to lead any kind of "transcendent" foreign policy challenge. In an election that will be fought over the issue of war, where McCain has noisily accused Barack Obama of putting politics before country on the issue of most import, it is McCain who is guilty of just that charge with the selection of perhaps the least-qualified candidate for vice-commander in chief in modern U.S. history. Choosing Palin makes for potentially great politics, but it makes a mockery of McCain's claim to be the national security adult in this race, especially considering that if he's elected, he'll be the oldest first-term president in American history.

Would John McCain, a genuine American hero, place his own political ambitions ahead of the good of the country? Indeed he has, at least according to an authority as knowledgeable on the subject as John McCain. In all five of his books he repeatedly warns us of precisely that tendency. "The worst decisions I have made, not just in politics but over the course of my entire life," he writes in Hard Call, "have been those I made to seek an advantage primarily or solely for myself."

Presenting Heather MacDonald:

Thanks a lot, John McCain. With his selection of an unknown, two-year female governor as his running mate, he has just ensured that the diversity racket will be an essential component of presidential politics forever more. Had the 44-year-old Sarah Palin, whose greatest political accomplishment before being elected Alaska’s governor in 2006 was serving as mayor of Wasilla (population 9,780), been named Stanley, she would have had exactly zero chance of ending up in the Oval Office in the next four years. But from now on, any presidential ticket that consists solely of white males—no matter their qualifications—will likely be dead in the water.

...

Palin herself drew on hackneyed feminist bromides at her first rally as vice presidential nominee, quoting no less an establishment diversocrat than Hillary Clinton. Clinton’s run had “left 18 million cracks in the highest, hardest glass ceiling in America,” Palin said in Dayton, Ohio, yesterday. “It turns out that the women of America aren’t finished yet, and we can shatter that glass ceiling once and for all.”

I thought that conservatives scoffed at the idea that American society systematically blocks accomplished women from advancement. But within less than an hour of the vice-presidential announcement yesterday morning, the diversity epidemic had spread rapidly in the Republican political machinery, including among analysts for whom I have only the highest respect. Talk-show host Laura Ingraham enthused about Palin’s identity profile: “A lot of women are calling in excited,” Ingraham said. “The women of America will see that she might be the first woman vice president.” Palin’s identity-based advantages go beyond gender, in Ingraham’s view: “Palin has an Eskimo husband, a Down’s Syndrome son, an Iraq-bound son.” CNBC host Larry Kudlow echoed Ingraham’s assessment: “This is a breakthrough for the stodgy Republican party.”

Presenting Doctor Laura:

I’m stunned - couldn’t the Republican Party find one competent female with adult children to run for Vice President with McCain?   I realize his advisors probably didn’t want a “mature” woman, as the Democrats keep harping on his age.  But really, what kind of role model is a woman whose fifth child was recently born with a serious issue, Down Syndrome, and then goes back to the job of Governor within days of the birth?

I am haunted by the family pictures of the Palins during political photo-ops, showing the eldest daughter, now pregnant with her own child, cuddling the family’s newborn.  When Mom and Dad both work full-time (no matter how many folks get involved with the children), it becomes a somewhat chaotic situation.  Certainly, if a child becomes ill and is rushed to the hospital, and you’re on the hotline with both Israel and Iran as nuclear tempers are flaring, where’s your attention going to be?  Where should your attention be?  Well, once you put your hand on the Bible and make that oath, your attention has to be with the government of the United States of America.

Finally, Michelle Malkin:

The first stage of Conservative Female Abuse by the left is infantilization. Right-wing women can't possibly believe what they say they believe about the sanctity of life, self-defense, free markets or foreign policy. They must be submissive little dolls of the White Male Hierarchy. Or, as a far-left (Is there any other kind of left in San Francisco?) San Francisco Chronicle columnist wrote of first lady Laura Bush, they must be put in their place as "docile doormats" with no brains of their own. True to form, no sooner had John McCain announced Gov. Palin as his veep pick than jeers of "Palin = neocon puppet" sprouted across the Internet.

The second stage of CFA is sexualization. A conservative woman is not merely a sellout. She is an intellectual prostitute. Unable or unwilling to argue with them on the merits, detractors resort to mocking the physical appearance of their ideological opponents in skirts and denigrating them with vulgar epithets. MSNBC hosts insulted former GOP presidential candidate Fred Thompson's accomplished wife and mother of two, Jeri Thompson, as working the stripper pole. Newspaper cartoonists Ted Rall, Pat Oliphant and Jeff Danziger have caricatured Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, including as a mammy, thick-lipped parrot and a Bush "House nigga" armed with "hair straightener." New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd derided former Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris, a Republican, for applying "her makeup with a trowel."

That is all.

My Desktop & Windows SP3

[ UPDATE ] I found a fix! I've also noticed Google hits on this post so I'm making it a feature article for a few days

Windows XP, SP3 update got downloaded.
I clicked install.
I friggin' music file, Beethoven.wma couldn't be copied over.
The entire install failed because of it.

A. Friggin. MUSIC. FILE!!!!!!!!!

Desktop is now hosed.

[ UPDATE ] 9/5/2008

In this case, the beethoven.wma file resides in the "\Documents and Settings\All Users\Shared Documents\Shared Music" folder. However, the "All Uses" directory had NO permissions set. To fix it, right click on "All Users" and click the "Security" option.

Click the "Security" Tab.

(When I did this, the list under the "Group or user names" was empty.)

Click "Add..."

Click "Advanced..."

Click "Find Now"

In the list at the bottom, do a multiple selection click (control click) to select:

• Administrator
• Administrators
• "Your user name"

Click ok all of the way out and try again.

Palin

Home. Run.

How are they going to target her, a woman, even if she's getting down and dirty?

Game. Set.

[ UPDATE ]

How can a Black man, go after a white woman, and not lose votes?

Lawd....

Wonderful political move.

I'm Black and I'm A Republican

So, here's the thing, the title is correct. I am Black and I am a Republican.

*GASP* Sellout!!!!
*GASP* He is soooooo brave.

What ever. Here's my experience on the matter.

I haven't faced the criticism for being a Republican. In fact, when Black Republicans, on-line, have said they get grief for saying they are Republican, I usually state that I find it hard to believe they are getting the flack they claim they are getting and I think there is ALWAYS more to it that isn't being said.

Why?

Because as an independent, I've said harsh things about Democrats and haven't received heat over it WHEN I PREFACE THE CRITICISM WITH FACTS THAT CAN'T BE DENIED. For example:

• No Black Democrat will deny that the Democratic party takes the Black vote for granted.
• Black Democrats may believe that funding of schools is important, but when I mention that all of the funding in the world doesn't help if the school is in disarray because disruptive kids are allowed to stay in the classroom, instead of being removed from the classroom and, possibly, given alternative education, I get agreement.
• Some Black Democrats may not like vouchers, but many more like charters, and even when they don't, if you point out more Black politicians and teachers put their children in private school when compared to the general population, and that Black parents of children in school, when given a chance, choose charters and/or vouchers, there is no disagreement that options should exist.
• No Black Democrats that I have talked with, say they want more taxes taken out of their checks. And when I give examples of wasted money that could be geared towards areas they want, there is agreement. It all boils down to accountability for the spending of money. Again, no disagreement when I state it that way.

If the history of Blacks and Republicans come up, I don't defend the Republican party because I think they have a problem of their own making and I say so. Not only that, but if when pressed by Republicans, I point out white and Black Republicans of note who echo what I've stated.

(My Google notebook on Blacks and the GOP).

At the height of his popularity, I called Bill Clinton a cracka in a suit on USENET and I caught hell. I said the same thing in a barbershop, after I stated how Bill Clinton wasn't as good for Blacks as people said, and pointed out EXACTLY how he mistreated Lani Guiner and Joycelin Elder, and I received no push back.

( I have at least a 10 year Internet history of "Democrat bashing" to back me up).

I'm going to state things how I see them. I'm going to state information as I know it to be. In the process, I'm going to give the respect that I want to receive. I do turn on the heat, however, when partisans continually push things that, IMO, is crap, and shows disrespect of me or Black people in general. But, that's another topic.

What I emphasized, I think and have said so, is the key. I try to give respect. From what I've seen, public Black conservatives, for the most part, do not show respect for Black people, unless the Black people are conservatives. That has been the basis for questioning when I hear or read about Black Republicans catching heat. I have to wonder what else has gone on that has not been said.

Lack of respect is:

• Saying Blacks are on a plantation.
• Saying Blacks are subject to group think, when being part of a party, regardless of race, is group think, and on the larger level, adhering to the rules of the society that you live in is group think.
• Saying Blacks don't think for themselves.
• Saying Martin Luther King, Jr. was a Republican without providing any hard proof.

The Republican hero is Ronald Reagan. Why not try being positive when talking with, not to, Black people?

My name is "DarkStar". This is my strongly held opinion, and I approve of this message.

Blacks At The RNC

Mocha Moms at the RNC

Young, Black and GOP: Party Leaders Speak Out

Privacy? What's That?

You ask for privacy, and then this happens?

WASILLA, Alaska - The boyfriend of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's unwed, pregnant daughter will join the family of the Republican vice presidential candidate at the GOP convention in St. Paul, Minn.

Levi Johnston's mother said her 18-year-old son left Alaska this morning to join the Palin family at the convention where Sen. John McCain will officially receive the Republican nomination for president. The boy's mother, Sherry Johnston, said there had been no pressure put on her son to marry 17-year-old Bristol Palin and the two teens had made plans to wed before it was known she was pregnant.

OH, this is a political move. They KNOW the media is going to go ape crazy over this. They know the supporters of Palin and Bush will go ape crazy over the media going ape crazy and the fence straddlers are going jump and they are hoping it's to McCain's side.

OH, this is good and sleazy.

Palin Questions

Quick questions:

• I wonder if there will be a "poll" done asking single mothers what they think about Palin being McCain's running mate when she has a young baby and grade school kids?
• Here it is: would the conservative reaction be different if it were a Black politician?
• What is the difference between "identity politics" and just plain politics?

Lawd, I'm Already Drinking The Kool-Aide

I'm already drinking the Google Kool-Aide, I don't think I'll take another swig of this one:

At Google, we have a saying: “launch early and iterate.” While this approach is usually limited to our engineers, it apparently applies to our mailroom as well! As you may have read in the blogosphere, we hit "send" a bit early on a comic book introducing our new open source browser, Google Chrome. As we believe in access to information for everyone, we've now made the comic publicly available -- you can find it here. We will be launching the beta version of Google Chrome tomorrow in more than 100 countries.

So why are we launching Google Chrome? Because we believe we can add value for users and, at the same time, help drive innovation on the web.

I think I'll pass.

Maybe I'm Just A Cynical SOB...

But it seems to me that the news channels are disappointed that Gustav didn't turn out worse.

I Have To Know

Why am I getting hits to my blog from the search "young girls with phat butts"?